Towel Animals: The Ultimate Bedtime Pals

You've never met a towel animal? Well, then you're in for a treat if you are planning your next cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines. While you may find a fanciful towel critter waiting in your cabin after dinner on other lines, only Carnival publishes books with step-by-step illustrated instructions for creating them at home.

Carnival's first instruction guidebook (Towel Creations) has a sequel--Carnival Towel Creations with Freddy, which features the line’s mascot “Fun Ship” Freddy. The new book offers easy-to-follow directions and diagrams for creating more than 80 different creatures, including new variations such as a snail, bat, cow, stingray and goat.

While towel animals are a relatively recent tradition, stewards have been surprising passengers with their creativity at turn-down for a long time. For a through-the-years peek at the evolution of Cabin Critters (including towel animals), read Ultimate Bedtime Pals at CruiseDiva.com.

There's no need to liberate towel animals from your ship in order to establish your own towel animal zoo at home. If you're not crafty enough to create your own, you can order miniature “towel pal” plush toys at Towel Pal.